A Ride to El Tigre’s

One of my favorite rides is to El Tigre’s on the beach and today that was my choice.  The route below is not exactly the way we went as some roads have been changed since MapPoint was discontinued.  In any case…close enough. 

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We left the park and went left (south) and here you see a new tower being constructed on the beach.  It’s going up fast and every morning droves of workers arrive on the bus and small motos.

Get out your Yankee bucks and pay for a yet to be built condo…no thank-you!

Lots of workers motos parked outside the project.

 

We left town going east via the road past WalMart turned right on Oscar perez escobosa crossed Mex 15  and skirted around the busy area in the north of the city on and then rejoined Mex 15 further south.  We could have taken the bypass but will probably return that way this afternoon.

Oil fired electricity and lots of pollution.

You can see the cost of a litre of gas is 15.9 pesos or about $1.00 Canadian.  Still going up and privatization of the Pemex stations is supposed to happen in February.  This will not help prices according to the news. 

Ahead of us is a pick-up truck stuffed with corn and the husks are flying everywhere.

He left the highway here and the corn is either feed for animals or perhaps that nasty burned corn that they sell at the edge of the road.

The road to Villa Union was quiet today so the trip was a little less stressful than usual.  Here we are coming over the Rio Presidio bridge into Villa Union.

Not real busy here either…unusual.   The road sign ahead says turn right for El Walamo which will take us west out to the beach and El Tigre.

Busy here on the side street where all the shops are selling anything you want.

End of the street and turn left.

Lots of crops out this way and everything is green.

Mango trees are starting to bloom.

Coming into El Walamo.  Lots of topes (speed bumps) that you can’t avoid. 

Quiet here today as well.

The Bimbo (bread)  truck is coming up behind us fast but the road is quite quiet and he can pass.

32km to Caimanero where the restaurant is.

Here there were a couple of cowboys with their cattle on the road.  They managed to get them off and down a path.  Those horns could really hurt you.  These animals don’t look too bad but we are seeing many skinny animals today as we travel along.

As we get closer to the beach the farmed shrimp ponds start to appear.

A tree nursery of some sort.

Aquaculture is big out here.

To the left of those palm trees is the ocean.

This house won’t get flooded!

Picking chili’s?

Many crops are staked so there are always stakes for sale.

More aquaculture.

There is a beautiful house behind this gate.

On the east side of the road the plastic is down for weed suppression.

Under the palms along the beach the cattle graze…on what I don’t know because there isn’t much there.

Coming up to El Tigre.

New sign.

The cattle are loose all over here.  Note the rubbish.

Quiet in the restaurant today although there was a family with two small girls who were swimming in the restaurant pool.  I tested the water and it was barely luke warm….chilly.

I wanted to have pargo ( red snapper ) on the grill but they didn’t have any.  We had to settle for Corvina fillets and it was a good choice.  They also had robalo but it is really greasy and we don’t care for it.

View to the beach.  Eric doesn’t think he would swim here.

Our waitress today was different than the one we have had in the past.  She really wanted to chat with us and although we could tell her where we were from and where we were staying that was about it.  It’s times like this that I really wish I could speak Spanish. 

Lunch is done and time to hit the road.  Big Red waits patiently for us!

We head east and cross one of the many lagoons.

This is the corner where a rider from our park left the road on Jan. 1, 2010 on  New Year’s Day ride.  Eric was at the end of the four riders and didn’t return home until dark.  No helmet and runners didn’t help Jean the rider when he missed the corner and went over.  He survived but the crosses say that many have not. 

Lots of tractors pulling discs. 

We are heading east to El Rosario where we will head north to Mazatlan and home.

Lots growing here too.

Coming through El Rosario and up ahead we’ll head left at the church.

Turn left and follow that truck.

Pretty through here.

We turn left up ahead and go north on the free road or Mex 15.

As we travel there is a herd of goats crossing the road.  There was a dead one smeared on the pavement and it must have been hit by a big truck.  Dangerous for everyone as there is always another one in the ditch waiting to cross. 

Chicken barns.  There is always a chicken on a barbecue here somewhere. 

We saw this Agave field a few years ago and the plants have really grown.  This crop is on a hill so maybe it prefers some altitude.

Here we have come into Villa Union and are going to get on the toll road bypass or Librimento to head home.  If you didn’t know where you were going you would surely get lost.  As you enter Villa Union on the free road there are no signs for the toll road.  The signs say turn right for Concordia or Durango but not the Mazatlan toll road.  You must turn right and then keep going until you go over the toll road.

Here you can keep going to Durango or turn left at the roundabout and head north to Mazatlan.

Coming onto the toll road to head home. 

Lots of crops growing at the edge of the road here as the bypass route passes through farmland.

Prepare to pay your toll.  For us it was 20 pesos.

The bypass is concrete and you can really motor along. 

We were home lickity split and arrived back in the park by about 3:30pm.  A good day but we were both tired.  Lots to keep your eye on when you travel on Mexican roads.  The drivers are unpredictable and the topes and potholes are numerous.  I felt quite tenderized by bouncing over topes, the ones we saw and the ones we didn’t. 

A good day.